joined military service to continue in the footsteps of their hero grandfathers, legendary first Black U.S. military aviators, the original Tuskegee Airmen, writes Staff Sgt. Timi Jones for the DVIDS Hub.

Tech. Sgt. David W. Stevenson, a combat arms maintenance and training security forces member with the 201st Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer Squadron, is the grandson of Col. Dudley Wardell Stevenson, 99th Fighter Squadron communications officer.

“He was one of the first five Tuskegee Airmen officers ever for the 99th Fighter Squadron,” said Stevenson.

He  left behind a legacy of military servitude that also includes his granddaughter, who joined the Navy.

Meanwhile, a 270th Engineering Installation Squadron cable antenna technician, Airman 1st Class Stephen D. Gallwey, is the grandson of pilot 1st Lt. James H. Gallwey.

Gallwey always knew he was going to serve, he just did not know where.

But “once my grandfather passed and I found out he was a Tuskegee Airmen, I knew I would go with the Air Force,” he said.

Read more about Tuskegee Airmen at the DVIDS Hub by clicking here.